NYPD Can’t Be Bothered to Report on the Black Kids It Kills

By
Lauren Gambino, The Guardian
on March 19, 2015

Over the past few months, Constance Malcolm has watched with shared sympathy as mother after mother stands before a sea of microphones to demand justice for her son, killed at the hands of a police officer sworn to protect and serve the people.

In February 2012, those same hot, angry, disbelieving tears flooded down Malcolm’s cheeks as she stood before the cameras to call for justice for her 18-year-old son, Ramarley Graham, who was killed by an NYPD officer in the family’s small Bronx apartment.

Her son’s death made headlines around the country. Protesters carried signs demanding “Justice for Graham” through the streets of New York. His parents joined them, wearing shirts with his face printed on them. Two grand juries would deliberate over the case, and the US Department of Justice would eventually open a civil rights investigation.

The FBI, however, has no record of Graham’s death. According to the department, the NYPD did not report officer-involved shooting data to the FBI for 2010, 2011 or 2012.

“This honestly doesn’t surprise me,” Malcolm told the Guardian. “Most of the people being killed by police are black or Latino. I think they feel our lives aren’t worth the paperwork.”

“[The officers] don’t want this to be published. They don’t want us to know the real number of people they’ve killed because this would show the true color of the police,” she said.